Publications /  Annual Report 2001

Heading for the summit: Prospects brighten for the world's mountain ecosystems Thanks to new ways of working together, people in the Andes are on their way to environmental and economic recovery after centuries of decline

Made in the Andes "We've come a long way in a short time," says Roberto Valdivia. To prove the point, he shows his latest, full-color sales catalog featuring attractive young men and women wearing a North American fashion icon - alpaca sweaters. The catalog is tangible evidence that poor rural people can compete in international markets. Valdivia is a director of the Centro de Investigación en Recursos Naturales y Medio Ambiente (CIRNMA), an NGO based at Puno on the shores of Lake Titicaca in southern Peru. The idea of CIRNMA arose from an earlier research project, the Proyecto de Investigación en Sistemas Agropecuarios Andinos (PISA), which explored opportunities for rural households to raise their incomes while protecting the natural resource base. One of those opportunities involved improving production of fiber from alpaca, a camelid traditionally kept in large herds that graze the region's natural pastures. The project had attempted to introduce more productive pastures and animals, but these improvements hadn't caught on. "People weren't being offered a premium for quality," explains Roberto Quiroz, leader of CIP's Department of Production Systems and Natural Resource Management Research.

"The export market is growing rapidly, especially for mixed wool and alpaca sweaters," says Valdivia. "This is great, because people keep mixed flocks, so we are adding value to both species." Now up to 7,000 sweaters are sold annually to buyers from North America and Europe.

Widening the view

CIRNMA has also gone in for the traditional Andean crop, quinoa. This nutritious grain's protein content boasts high amounts of lysine, an amino acid in which most other cereals are low. Quinoa makes good flour and a tasty flake that can be eaten as a breakfast cereal. There is an expanding market for organically grown quinoa among health-conscious consumers in Europe. But breaking into this market required radically different production and processing methods then those used traditionally.

CIRNMA began by obtaining improved varieties of quinoa from the national agricultural research institute. By using the new seed in combination with organic manure and more effective weeding, the organization's researchers were able to double average yields, to about 1200 kilos per hectare. The surplus is crucial to subsistence farmers who seek to enter the market. Following introduction of the improved production package through participatory research, nearly 900 farmers are now doubling their yields. After harvest, the grain is taken to the processing plant, where it is carefully sieved to remove impurities, and then washed to rid it of saponin, an anti-nutritional compound that can give it an off-taste. The quinoa is then either milled and flaked for export, or sold whole on the local market.

What will this entrepreneurial NGO take on next? Valdivia is keen to expand into meat, demand for which is growing rapidly as incomes rise. He has already begun processing and marketing beef, taking advantage of increased supplies following the introduction of simple innovations to improve calf survival and weight-gain in herds raised around Lake Titicaca. Now he plans to turn his attention to meat from sheep. In the longer term, alpaca meat is also an attractive option, since it contains less cholesterol than other red meat and so could be a healthy alternative to beef. The only drawback is the slow gestation of alpacas, a problem that needs to be addressed.

The benefits from CIRNMA's two most successful enterprises to date - wool and quinoa - flow directly to poor rural people who have few other options for earning income. The impact on their livelihoods is substantial: a woman trained to produce sweaters on the plant's new machinery can add up to US$400 yearly to family farm income, nearly doubling it; for families involved in both enterprises, the gain is even greater.

Replicating success

CIRNMA's success shows what can be achieved by linking poor producers to expanding global markets. (See related story page 55.) It also shows how new ways of working can enhance impact.

"When this research around Puno began in the late 1980s," says Quiroz, "CIP was deeply involved in all activities and had two professional scientists living in the area. Today, we support CIRNMA's research from Lima, mainly by telephone and e-mail."

To help replicate institutional innovations of this kind, CIP and its partners founded the Consortium for Sustainable Development of the Andean Ecoregion (CONDESAN) in 1992. CONDESAN is an umbrella association of public- and private-sector partners who work together on the full range of issues affecting rural livelihoods and environments in the Andes. The idea is to integrate research with development in just the way that CIRNMA does, but on a larger scale.

"Our aim is cooperative thinking for mountain ecosystems," says Elias Mujica, CONDESAN's deputy coordinator. "Projects such as PISA showed us that component research is necessary for development, but is not enough by itself." A more holistic approach, linking production with processing, is vital.

The holistic approach applies in other ways too. "Focusing on agriculture alone will not bring sustainable development in the Andes," says Hugo Li Pun, CIP's Deputy Director General for Finance and Administration. "We have to include other sectors. This means not just the obvious 'next-door' sectors such as forestry and fisheries but also those further afield, such as ecotourism and mining. Links with ecotourism are particularly important because this sector increases the demand for products such as handicrafts and processed foods." A broad alliance such as CONDESAN can solve previously intractable problems by tapping expertise across sectoral boundaries. One of the consortium's most valuable roles is to help resolve conflicts over the sharing of natural resources. This work is conducted using an integrated watershed approach in which stakeholders are encouraged to think about the effects of their actions on others.

CONDESAN is also a vehicle for tackling the difficult challenge of extending the benefits of research on a larger scale. This is perhaps the biggest barrier to impact in diverse mountain ecosystems, where every valley has different problems needing different solutions. There is scope for technology transfer, but usually not over large contiguous areas. Appropriate analytical tools and communication links are needed to spot opportunities for transfer, pinpoint needs for adaptation and encourage it all to happen. With CIP's support, many of these tools have been put in place and are enabling the consortium's partners to enhance and accelerate progress through better and more inclusive decision-making.

The key to impact in all CONDESAN's work is to unleash the creative energies of local people, enabling them to find their own solutions to the problems they recognize as priorities. Participation and empowerment have become clichés in the development lexicon, but the consortium's experience has shown just how important they are.

CONDESAN's impact is still limited. "We can't reverse the degradation of five centuries in just 10 years," says Mujica. But the consortium's many achievements, and the diverse sectors they span, testify to its effectiveness in marshalling resources to get things done - and get them done well. CONDESAN is now widely recognized as a highly effective model for integrated rural research and development - one that could prove useful elsewhere in the developing world.

Going global

The 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro brought world leaders together to sign Agenda 21, an impressive declaration that committed them to better stewardship of the world's natural resources. Chapter 13 of the declaration, on mountain development, highlighted the fragility of mountain ecosystems and the poverty of the people who live in them. In 2001, as the world prepared for a second summit and the United Nations made plans to commemorate the International Year of Mountains 2002, it was normal to ask: "What has been achieved in the meantime?" The short answer is "not nearly enough".

Far too many mountain dwellers still face a deteriorating natural resource base accompanied by shrinking opportunities to earn a living. Yet there are exceptions - pockets of the Andes and other mountain regions where people have begun changing their lives for the better. A drive is needed to share these positive experiences far more widely.

A global dialog on sustainable mountain development is already under way. In 1997, the CGIAR responded to the needs set out in Chapter 13 of Agenda 21 by launching the Global Mountain Program (GMP), with CIP as its convener. The program links the partners in the Andes with similar multi-institutional approaches in the Hindu Kush region of Asia and the highlands of East Africa. Efforts in these two areas are coordinated by the International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) and the African Highlands Initiative (AHI), respectively. The Mountain Forum, an electronic network that promotes the exchange of information among its 2500 individual and 150 institutional members, complements the GMP.

The Global Mountain Program has launched activities around the two main themes outlined in Chapter 13: knowledge about mountain ecosystems and their development; and integrated watershed development and alternative livelihood opportunities. In pursuit of the first theme, the GMP has concentrated initially on developing or adapting tools and methods, especially geographical information systems (GIS), and on training local professionals in their use. Already, over 200 people have received short-term training; a further 20 are completing degree studies.

With regard to the second theme, the program has selected nine "model" watersheds in the Andes and the Himalayas and produced a series of CD-ROMs describing each watershed and the options for its development. These CD-ROMs are proving popular with practitioners worldwide.

Despite these promising beginnings, the Global Mountain Program needs strengthening if it is to prove equal to its task. That's why CIP is proposing that the program become one of the new Challenge Programs being established by the CGIAR. This status would better reflect the vital contribution of mountain ecosystems to lives and livelihoods worldwide - and should, as a result, attract greater financial support.

Alpacas, like llamas and vicuñas, are camelids native to the Andes Spreading success Several CONDESAN projects have successfully replicated the Puno experience by linking producers with more lucrative markets. For example, in Colombia's Rio Ovejas watershed, maize farmers who have switched to growing avocado for a fruit company stand to increase their incomes fivefold. Meanwhile, researchers continue to find new uses for the Andes' lesser known crops, helping to conserve the region's rich genetic heritage. In Cochabamba, Bolivia, demand for olluco, a vitamin-rich tuber with poor storage qualities, has risen following the development of a method for drying olluco that allows the crop to be marketed year-round. Interventions geared to raise farmers' incomes while protecting the environment have also proven highly successful. These include the construction of terraces together with the development of seed enterprises and tree nurseries in Cajamarca, Peru, and the introduction of saltbush as a forage species on land degraded by salinization near La Paz, Bolivia. A new university campus in La Miel, Colombia, a community organization in La Paz, and a multi-institutional water forum in Cochabamba testify to the high success rates of institution building. Another institutional innovation, the mesa de concertación or round table, has proved effective in defusing contentious issues such as the sharing of water resources. This approach was first developed in Cajamarca, Peru, and is now spreading to other areas. InfoAndina, the information arm of CONDESAN, has enabled thousands of people to join the region's debate on development issues. Electronic conferences, using low-cost e-mail, are especially popular, with 13 events held in the past 5 years. Traveling workshops are raising awareness of the opportunities afforded by the Internet against a background of rising connectivity in the region. "These initiatives are allowing the voices of poor, previously marginalized people to be heard for the first time," said InfoAndina's coordinator, Ana Maria Ponce. Since 1997, InfoAndina has acted as the Andean node of the global Mountain Forum, further broadening the circle of participants.